Electronics systems typically are enclosed in a protective enclosure. The enclosure may variously protect the electronics from physical damage, protect users of the equipment from unintended interaction with the electronics such as capacitive coupling or electrical shock, reduce or eliminate unintended electromagnetic transmissions to and from the electronics, and physically stabilize the electronics to reduce or eliminate undesired coupling between mechanical and electronic subsystems.
Designing enclosures that provide for these characteristics but also permit ease of access when needed is challenging. Access may be desired for study and analysis of the electronics, for diagnosis and repair of the electronics, or even to permit viewing the internal construction for aesthetic reasons. Generally the operational characteristics of the enclosure that make it most effective for the above purposes also thwart easy access to the internals. For example, stabilizing the enclosure or making it “radio frequency-tight” may entail use of tight-fitting mechanical components, multiple hardware fasteners, and/or complex assembly and disassembly. This tradeoff usually is weighted in favor of the operational characteristics of the enclosure; for example, many modern cell phones or computers are exceedingly difficult to open or require special uncommon tools to disassemble. This tradeoff is acceptable where the manufacturer intends that the equipment contains no user-serviceable parts or subsystems inside.
A special problem arises when the enclosure is to be used for educational or pedagogical purposes, such as an electronics kit. Ideally, it is desirable to stabilize the kit in an open as well as closed condition so the electronics can be viewed, diagnosed, learned or taught, or repaired by the owner. Such systems have the atypical requirement that the parts inside are expressly intended to be user-serviceable; indeed they may have been assembled by the user.
There is therefore a need for an enclosure apparatus, and methods of manufacturing it, that facilitates stability of the internal electronic components and provides for ease of user access in an opened condition, and which can be easily opened and closed by its user or owner with simple or no special tools.
Performance of such a system may be further enhanced if the enclosure can be opened and closed a very large number of times, far more than is common for apparatus with no user-serviceable parts inside, without significant friction or wear and with a high degree of reliability in the placement of the electronics subsystems when the enclosure is reassembled to its closed condition, to achieve a high-quality aesthetic and functional “fit and finish” of the resulting product.